Mamma Mia! Drowns Titanic's UK Take

(NEWSER) - The Oscars are coming up, but that orgy of self-congratulation doesn’t celebrate what really matters in Hollywood: money. Forbes crunched the numbers for 2008 and selected the winners of a different award: the Rainmaker.

• Best Actor: Robert Downey Jr. returned $52.60 to Paramount for every dollar it spent to put him in Iron Man. The sky-high profit was enabled by Downey's then-low asking price, an aftereffect of his years of trouble with drugs and the law.

Golden oldies save cheesy musical adaptation from being a stinker

(NEWSER) - Mamma Mia! doesn't quite pull off the leap from stage to screen, but ABBA fans will find it worth taking a chance on, critics say. The "jukebox musical that strings together 19 ABBA hits on a narrative thread flimsier than dental floss" had Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer "smiling and wincing—often at the same time." More»

Titanic, American Reunion both lose out to young-adult powerhouse

(NEWSER) - Another weekend, another win for The Hunger Games: The Jennifer Lawrence-driven blockbuster mopped up another $33.5 million this weekend, easily sending American Reunion ($21.5 million) back to band camp and sinking Titanic 3D ($17.4 million), while racing across the $300 million line in near-record time. It cleared $300 million in 17 days, notes the Hollywood Reporter, the fastest for any non-summer or non-holiday movie. More»

Movie script paints Iron Lady as sad, out of it

(NEWSER) - A forthcoming film about Margaret Thatcher paints the UK's first female prime minister as an addled dementia patient, and her children are "appalled," a family friend tells the Telegraph . The Iron Lady will star Meryl Streep , but Abi Morgan's script has the family up in arms. "Sir Mark and Carol are appalled at what they have learnt about the film,” says the source. "They feel strongly about it, but will not speak publicly for fear of giving it more publicity." More»

Gone with the Wind may trump Cameron's epic

(NEWSER) - Avatar will soon gross $1.85 billion worldwide, but becoming the box office champ doesn't mean it's the most successful movie of all time. Remember, a ticket to Gone with the Wind cost an average of only 23¢—45 times less than an Avatar ticket. This list ranks films by inflation-adjusted domestic gross, and the big picture is quite humbling for Avatar—its $560 million places it 26th, between Grease and Thunderball. More»